eloise wrote:gtg947h wrote:
Or they may just be operating with g limits (or other limitations) while carrying the target. I can't imagine they're going to engage in a lot of hard maneuvering on a target launch mission; it should be a (relatively) benign profile compared to ACM.
Is the rating value for each station is the maximum value that station can carry in level flight or very slight maneuver like 1.5G?
The rating is typically a maximum nominal 1G load. So that 5000lb station may be able to carry that 5000lb at 9G, or at some reduced number (see F-16 limits for AG stores). On an F-15, I
think the aircraft can go to full G limits (9?) with the tanks, though I could well be wrong. Assuming that's true (and assuming a tank is 5000lb), BotE says a 6900lb load would be limited to roughly 6.5G.
In either case, there will be a full engineering analysis done before carrying something like this that could tell you what your limits would be. The store itself might well have a limit, too, and that could be lower than what the aircraft structure could take.
Of course, there's a whole lot that goes into determining maximum loads. Johnwill could answer better than me as he did this stuff directly and I'm just on the periphery (I'm a systems guy, not structures/stress; I only sit next to those guys, and the airplanes I work on don't have external stores). But there's a whole lot more to it than just weight of the store and G limits. Aero loads, maneuvers, landing loads, asymmetric conditions, flutter, hung stores, taxi, and more can all wind up being a limiting case.